Not since the likes of “Die Hard,” “Predator” and my personal favorite, “Rambo,” have we seen a good “old-fashioned” action film. Many have tried to bring back the old action franchises and in almost every case, they have failed to bring back the magic of old.

But thankfully, I think they might have hit the mark with “Olympus Has Fallen.” The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, follows the story of Secret Service agent Mike Banning, who happens to find himself in the middle of an attack on the White House.

Gerard Butler reclaims his action throne with his performance in the film. Ever since his lead role in the film “300,” almost all of his films have been romantic comedies. However, this movie is anything but that. Butler’s performance in this film reminded me of the great action films he used to do.

His witty one-liners and his non-superhero-like action scenes brought me back to my childhood. In today’s action movies, the heroes of the story are unbeatable and can, for example, crash a helicopter by driving a motorcycle into it. In this film, Butler’s character reminded me of the original “Die Hard” hero John McClane.

The cast around Butler was also fantastic. Aaron Eckhart played President Benjamin Asher and was fantastic in the role. Also Morgan Freeman played the Secretary of State, and one of my favorites in the film was Rick Yune who played the role of Kang.

This film also had some fantastic action scenes as well. It was amazing to see how much action they could pack into one building. The visuals in this film were superior.

From planes flying into the Washington Monument and crashing onto the south lawn and a Zero Dark Thirty-esque seal raid on the roof of the White House, Fuqua did a fantastic job setting up a great story with such fantastic action.

I cannot say enough how much this film reminds me of the great action films of old, and that is why I enjoyed it so much. If you are a fan of old-school action films or just looking for a great time in the theater, I definitely recommend seeing this film.

I would rate this film a 4.25 out of 5.